{"id":20847,"date":"2014-09-11T19:11:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T00:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/people\/elena-huegel\/"},"modified":"2024-04-05T11:55:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T16:55:58","slug":"elena-huegel","status":"publish","type":"person","link":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/people\/elena-huegel\/","title":{"rendered":"Elena Huegel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Elena Huegel serves with the Intercultural Research and Studies Institute (INESIN) in Mexico.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you describe the mission of our partner in Chiapas, M\u00e9xico?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Institute’s mission is to “Contribute to the construction of peace in Chiapas through the promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We promote relationships based on peace, tolerance, and respect between Christian denominations through inter-confessional dialogue and encounters in our courses and workshops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We recognize our differences as we learn that we can work in harmony to achieve common objectives, such as promoting justice and working towards peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/inesin-mx.org\/english\/aboutus.htm<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you fit into their mission?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the coordinator of the Reto\u00f1os en las ruinas: esperanza en el trauma (Roots in the Ruins: Hope in Trauma) program, which seeks to provide spiritual accompaniment to nourish hope and develop resilience in the midst of conflict and emotional trauma, I help train the Institute Staff in conflict transformation and holistic peace education as well as reach out to those affected by the September 2017 earthquakes in M\u00e9xico.\u00a0I also coordinate the\u00a0Roots in the Ruins: Hope in Trauma training courses for people who are seeking to become facilitators in other countries in Latin America through Global Ministries and the Institute’s contacts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What led you to engage in this calling?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am called to lift up and honor the dignity that we all share as God’s creation and to participate in the healing of all our relationships: with God, with ourselves, with others and with the natural world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there a passage of scripture that carries special meaning in your daily work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 37:3-9\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
2 Peter Chapter 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some challenges facing the people of Chiapas, our partner, or yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chiapan Challenges:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Corruption on all levels: in government, business, education, health, law enforcement, and military.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The intertwining of government, business, and organized crime.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Deep-seated, unresolved conflicts and a sense that justice rarely prevails.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Chiapas has the poorest municipalities in the country and now also areas hit by the September 2017 earthquakes. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Big business coming in to snatch up lands for hydroelectric, mining, and forestry projects.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Many First Nation people are landless and work for big landowners.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. The government sees Chiapas as a “trouble spot” due to the 1994 Zapatista uprising and local communities that remain in resistance against the system they see as oppressive, as well as the thousands of migrants who flood through the state from Central America on their way to the United States.\u00a0Chiapas is one of the most militarized zones of Mexico, creating a wide variety of tensions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The Institute’s Challenges:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    1. The economic challenges of the world in general and of Mexico and the United States in particular have affected the Institute’s programs.\u00a0Under the current state of national a local corruption, it is very difficult to receive money from national sources without selling out; hence, the Institute depends on international funding.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Many of the communities that the Institute works with are becoming more violent, especially as special interest groups clash before the national elections. Organized crime is moving into areas with a vacuum of strong local leadership.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. The political and economic forces have used church members, either Catholic or Protestant, to gain strength.\u00a0Religious violence simmers in many communities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. In many communities, economic or educational opportunities for women and children, especially girls, are minimal.\u00a0Many girls do not finish the sixth grade as they are expected to work and then get married.\u00a0The Institute is helping to develop community gardens in these communities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Spanish is not necessarily the first language of the people of Chiapas, who still proudly speak their indigenous languages after so many years of dominance.\u00a0The Institute has people who speak these languages teaching and translating in the different activities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      My Challenges:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      1. Maintaining a healthy balance of time for all the different needs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Integrating to a new city and places of work and worship after 20 years in Chile.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Facing two major earthquakes, with all the aftershocks, while caring for myself.\u00a0Teaching others, while watching out for myself, about compassion fatigue and secondary trauma.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. Accompanying those who have participated in the Reto\u00f1os en las ruinas courses in countries with natural disasters.\u00a0This is hard to do from a distance.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        What lesson you have learned from our partner that you feel should be shared with churches in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        M\u00e9xico is still a naturally beautiful, culturally diverse, family-oriented country that has so much to teach the people of the United States.\u00a0 When the United States sneezes, M\u00e9xico catches pneumonia.\u00a0 Both countries are tied together in countless ways, both positive and negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        It is well worth it for our churches in the United States to learn about the cultures, history, art, literature, and challenges of Mexico to become better neighbors, to understand the tensions between the United States and Mexico from multiple points of view, and to counter the incessant flow of negative stories about Mexico in the media. The Mayan people say that we must learn to celebrate the light in our hearts, but to also be realistic and brave in facing our shadows.\u00a0The shadows stretch across both sides of the border; the church must find new ways for the light to shine on both sides, too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Which books have influenced your understanding of your country, work, or theology?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n